A. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to the art of methods and apparatuses regarding the manufacture and assembly of tires, and more particularly to methods and apparatuses regarding the manufacture of pneumatic tires requiring increased lower sidewall durability.
B. Description of the Related Art
It is known that certain pneumatic tires, such as those suitable for use on an aircraft, are subjected to operating conditions which include relatively high internal pressures, relatively high speeds (often in excess of 300 kilometers per hour), and relatively high deflections. During the taxiing and taking off of an aircraft, the tire deflection may be more than 30%, and on landing may be 45% or more under impact conditions. Such relatively extreme pressures, loads, and deflections put the lower sidewall area of the tire adjacent the beads under severe tests. The high inflation pressures cause large tensile forces in this bead area while the high deflection rates cause high compressive forces in the axially outer portion of the bead area. These extreme operating conditions can tend to decrease the durable life of the lower sidewall and bead areas. As used herein, an “aircraft tire” or a “pneumatic tire suitable for use on an aircraft” is understood to mean a tire of a size and strength specified for use on an aircraft in either the Yearbook of the Tire and Rim Association, Inc., or the Yearbook of the European Tyre and Rim Technical Organization published in the year that the tire is manufactured.
Commonly, the number of plies (carcass plies) placed in the lower sidewall area of a pneumatic tire requiring increased lower sidewall durability, such as an aircraft tire, have been increased and additional reinforcement plies have been added in the bead area in order to increase rigidity and to decrease deformation of the pneumatic tire under load. Typically, both the carcass plies and the reinforcement plies are comprised of the same tire cord fabric. The tire cord fabric may consist of a pair of (ply) cords extending diagonally across the pneumatic tire. These ply cords may extend from a first bead structure to a second bead structure at about a 80°-90° angle with respect to the equatorial plane of the aircraft tire. Each individual ply cord of a particular ply may be at the same angle, but run in the opposite direction, with respect to the other individual ply cord.
Recently, it has become known to use a relatively high modulus tire cord fabric, such as aramid, in constructing both the carcass and reinforcement plies. The high modulus cords may be embedded in an elastomeric material and there may be a plurality of cord ends per inch of elastomeric material. The modulus of a material may generally be defined as the ratio of stress to strain within the linear elastic range of such material. The strain can be defined as the change in length of the material, as a result of the stress, divided by the original length of the material. As applied to tire fabric cord or cable, the cord modulus is the ratio of its longitudinal stress to the resulting strain within the elastic limit of the cord material. A ply of parallel cords also has a corresponding modulus. The ply modulus is equal to the cord modulus multiplied by the cord end count, which may be defined as the number of cord ends per inch, in the ply. Plies made of higher modulus cords (high modulus plies) are currently favored over plies made of lower modulus cords (low modulus plies). High modulus plies are of relatively lower weight and melt at a higher temperature than low modulus plies. The higher melting temperature results in the plies being more resistant to flat-spotting. A method of tire design using high modulus plies is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,741 titled AIRCRAFT TIRE, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Although many known pneumatic tires requiring increased lower sidewall durability, such as an aircraft tire, work well for their intended purpose, they do have disadvantages. One disadvantage to using high modulus plies in the construction of aircraft tires is their lower fatigue compression durability as compared to low modulus plies. Lower fatigue compression durability of the plies may cause a premature removal of an aircraft tire from an aircraft liner. This premature removal results in a higher operating cost to the airlines and, may offset and reduced costs to the airlines resulting from the decreased weight of the high modulus plies.
What is needed then is a pneumatic tire with a higher fatigue compression durability without a significant increase in the overall weight of the tire. In providing this higher fatigue compression durability, it is desirable that the tire's footprint is not significantly reduced. Further, it is desirable to localize the compression loading of the pneumatic tire.